Microsoft copes with XP PR fall-out

Software king of the world Microsoft is quietly defusing a potential PR nightmare following its pulling the plug on Windows XP. Microsoft has not revealed any details but it appears to have been cutting the costs of its paid support for Windows XP by up to $82 million.

The last support patch for XP was issued on 8 April, with all users being repeatedly warned about the looming deadline and encouraged to upgrade. Governments and large enterprises around the world failed to meet the deadline mostly because they had invested shedloads in bespoke applications and databases. Many of these groups subsequently signed up to pay millions for custom support arrangements with Microsoft – the UK government alone shelled out £5.5 million for a one-year deal.

But some users have not being paying up and Microsoft has been forced to drop the cost.

Daryl Ullman, co-founder and managing director of the Emerset Consulting Group, told Computerworld one of his clients turned down a quote of $2 million from Microsoft for continued support of 10,000 PCs. However, a few days later, Microsoft made a new offer of $250,000 which was accepted. The UK government must be kicking itself.